Here I Am
by Karts of Sugar Rush
Summary: In an alternate universe, humans, animals, and Bakugan shared the same world, New Vestroia. While humans lived in civilization, animals and Bakugan lived out in the wild. Everything was peaceful. Then the impossible happened when six children were taken care of by six Bakugan. As a result, some of New Vestroia's most unlikely friendships came to life.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Bakugan or anything within the franchise.

Prologue

In an alternate dimension, humans and Bakugan lived peacefully on the same planet, New Vestroia. As long as humans didn't bother Bakugan, Bakugan didn't bother humans. Bakugan lived in the wild, humans lived in civilization. Small cities and towns of humans were scattered all over the world. Some humans even resided in Attribute Realms, realms with hidden entrances around the planet where Bakugan with attribute heritage could enter while regular animals and humans could enter on their own. Most Bakugan didn't get involved with humans and the few that did helped their lives along, be it help building structures or defending them from opposing people and Bakugan alike. Though humans wanted to defend themselves against Bakugan, they knew that Bakugan would always be stronger than them. They also knew that Bakugan were a lot like them as well. While humans raised their young in a more controlled environment, Bakugan raised theirs in a more natural one. Humans needed water and food as necessities to survival and some Bakugan needed it as well. When one was in pain, another helped them no matter if they were humans helping Bakugan or Bakugan helping humans. They were more alike than a lot realized. A few things hadn't happened in Vestroia history but something that never happened before finally did… human children raised by Bakugan. Yes there were human children that were raised by wild animals, a few in recorded history, but never had the two intelligent creatures interacted in such a way until six children and Bakugan made history.

A young boy, filled with an energetic fire, found care under a Bakugan that never thought he would be in such a position.

A little girl that was jealous and longing for attention got hers from one of the most understanding Bakugan of her time.

An obedient son broke from doing as his parents ask to learn more about Bakugan and found a friend in a Bakugan which would make him laugh.

An adventurous daughter got into trouble, causing her to forget her past, and was found by a loyal Bakugan that promised to protect her.

A child that lost someone important to him, would be taken under the wing of a Bakugan that would help him become closer to the wind that his someone important encouraged him to love.

A child with a strange fondness for darkness lost all of her family gained a companion in a not-so-merciless Bakugan.

These six children formed bonds with Bakugan that no human ever did before.


	2. Marucho: A New World

Disclaimer: I do not own Bakugan or anything within the franchise.

A New World

A young boy lightly kicked a ball away from him to another boy.

"Pass it over here!" A third child, a girl called out to the boy that had received the ball. Hearing his friend's plea, he turned and kicked the ball over to her.

The three children were playing in front of a really large house. This large house was the biggest and the richest in the town. As they played, they noticed a shadow pass over them. "Look it's a Bakugan!" The first boy exclaimed gleefully. He was right, a bird-like Haos Bakugan flew over their area.

"So cool!" All three children chorused.

A window from the large house opened near them. "Huh?" A voice said as a boy's head appeared in the window. The boy was younger than the three outside. His head was topped with blonde hair and he had red glasses on his face. Looking out the window, he saw the creature in the sky. "Oh…" He breathed in wonder. Watching the Bakugan fly away, the little boy was awestruck. Around this neighborhood, Bakugan sightings were uncommon. Normally, the Bakugan around this town steered away from human land.

Suddenly, the little boy's attention was ripped away from his gaze as he heard a voice. "Marucho, please close the window, we're having lunch." That was the voice of his mother.

"Okay, Mother." Obediently, Marucho closed the window and returned to the table where his mother and father sat. A butler stood by, awaiting orders. Getting back into his seat, Marucho continued to eat his meal.

Marucho's father finished swallowing a piece of meat. "Now Marucho, remember you have your math lesson and your science lesson this afternoon so be sure to study beforehand so you'll be prepared for your quizzes. A little extra studying is always good."

Marucho nodded. "Yes, Father. I'll do just that." He replied. And yet, instead of his lessons being on his mind, his mind wandered to the Bakugan he had seen. Only a few times in his short life had he seen a Bakugan and now he was curious since he was able to read. "Father, Mother, what's a Bakugan?" The boy looked at his parents.

"Bakugan are creatures way bigger than us, Marucho. They live in this world just like we do. Some Bakugan are ten times as big as our house." His mother answered.

"That's really big, Mother."

"Yes Marucho it is."

A little while later after his science lesson and into his math lesson, Marucho still seemed to be intrigued by Bakugan. He had always been a studious little boy but today he was different. In his wonder of Bakugan, he didn't realize that he was doodling until his instructor pointed it out.

The instructor spoke to him. "Marucho, have you finished your division?"

His head shot up. "Hm?" Then he looked down at his paper. "Oh, no I haven't. I'm almost done." Getting back to the sheet in front of him, he began to scribble away at the remaining problems.

Since Marucho's behavior was out of the ordinary for him, the instructor found this odd and went over to check on his work. When he saw Marucho's sheet, he was surprised. "What's that on your paper, Marucho?"

"What?" Marucho asked, surprised at the question.

"This little drawing here. What is it?" The instructor motioned to the drawing on the page.

Giving it a glance, Marucho realized what it was. "It's a Bakugan, sir. At least I think how a Bakugan looks?" Erasing the sketch, he continued his assignment. "Sorry about that, I saw a Bakugan earlier and I think it might have distracted me a little." The boy apologized as he finished.

His instructor nodded. "It's alright, some people space out a little when they're curious about something. Now what do you say we check your work over?" He asked his student. Curtly, Marucho nodded in agreement. While his instructor looked over the problems, Marucho's thoughts went back to his Bakugan doodle that he unconsciously drew. Were Bakugan really that interesting to him?

The answer was clear. They were interesting to him.

Dinner came and went then with the time left in the day to play, Marucho used that time to go to the house's small library. Thankfully, among the books were a few books on Bakugan. More than once he had to ask Kato, his butler to pronounce big words for him to the point where Kato sat by him, waiting for a word to require pronouncing and if Marucho needed a snack or a drink, the child would wait until Kato came back before proceeding further. By the time for bed, Marucho had only gotten through a fourth of a three hundred page book on Bakugan.

"Keep it there, Kato. I don't want to lose the page I'm on until tomorrow." He told Kato as the butler was about to close the book and place it back on the shelf before ushering Marucho to bed. Obeying the order, Kato left it as is and took Marucho to wash up for bed and tuck him in. However, Marucho didn't fall asleep. Instead, he was too curious about Bakugan to get his rest. In his head, he summarized everything he learned about Bakugan from the book. After about an hour or two, Marucho couldn't take it anymore and hopped out of bed. Peeking out his door, he saw no one was outside. As quietly as he could, he scurried back to the library and continued where he left off. At this late hour without Kato or anybody knowing he was there reading, he skipped over the big words so he could come back to them later. Still being a child at such a young age, he gave into sleep a little while later.

At breakfast, Marucho was very awake but drowsiness remained in his system a little.

During breakfast, Marucho's father looked at him. "You mustn't do that, Marucho. It's not good to leave bed in the middle of the night and not return. You need your sleep so you may do your studies."

"I understand, Father. I won't do it again." Marucho eat up his breakfast.

This day felt like it was not ending soon enough. If he couldn't get his lessons done then he couldn't return to reading about Bakugan. One thing certainly made his day quicker though. That thing would be falling asleep during his English lesson before lunch. First he was awake and reading then the next moment, his head was on the table and it rested on a book he was supposed to read to practice sentence structure. When he awoke, it was late into his time for his math lesson. Apparently after he had fallen asleep, his parents canceled his lessons for the remainder of the day. Once he woke up, he eat his dinner meal with his parents then went back to the library to continue reading. In the short time of two days, there was a lot he learned about Bakugan such as the different attributes, Bakugan nature and intelligence, and many other things within the first book he read.

Following that day was a day full of free time for Marucho, he didn't have studies every day and even though he missed his afternoon lessons yesterday, his parents knew they had to keep their promise of him having that day off. When Marucho passed a window by the front yard, he saw all three kids from two days ago outside his house again. They knew what Bakugan looked like so they must know more information he could learn about them.

Approaching his parents who were discussing in the living room, he asked, "Mother, Father, would it be alright if I went outside to talk to the children out in front of our house?"

His parents looked at each other and out to their front yard where they saw the children. "Yes, Marucho, you may. If they say any naughty words, you can't talk to them anymore okay?" His mother replied to him.

"Yes, Mother." Marucho answered before asking Kato to open the door so he could go outside. "Hello there." He said to them as he approached.

One boy looked to the other boy and girl. "There was a kid in that house?" Both shrugged, Marucho's appearance answering for them.

"My name's Marucho and yes I do live in that house. I wish to talk to you all. You've all seen Bakugan before right? The one that flew over the other day was the first one I ever saw. Do you three know more about Bakugan? Have you seen more?"

The girl of the group looked at her friends before looking back to Marucho. "Yeah, we've seen other Bakugan but not many." She answered.

Marucho's eyes grew bigger in curiosity. "Really? That's amazing. You must tell me about what you've seen and what you know."

All three looked at each other again, seemingly having a silent conversation before they reached a decision. "Alright, we'll tell you but you have to play with us while we do." The other boy said.

"Deal." Marucho reached out a hand and shook his hand.

So while they talked, they kicked the ball in a sort of square like they had done a few days ago. They didn't offer much of what Marucho didn't already know about Bakugan but what they gave was enough to add to his knowledge. Eventually, Kato called him in for dinner and Marucho saw them off before returning inside.

A couple days later, Marucho was full of information about Bakugan after reading some of the books in the library. This worried his parents a little. It seemed like all Marucho talked about these days were Bakugan and didn't mention anything about how his studies went. One day when Marucho was in his English lesson, he glanced from his book to a window at the right moment to spot a Bakugan passing through.

His eyes sparkled upon sight. "Wow!" Dropping his book on his work table, he jumped out of his seat and to the window, pushing it open. He heard said Bakugan's voice let out a roar like a lion would but more like a Bakugan roar. "Amazing…"

"Marucho! Close that window at once and return to your seat." His English instructor commanded.

This order went unheard as Marucho continued to look after the Bakugan until it passed through and out of sight.

His instructor sounded off again. "Marucho, your seat."

Quirking at the order, Marucho realized what he was supposed to be doing. "Oh, right, sorry sir." Closing the window, Marucho sat back down and returned to his work.

Later in the evening, Marucho was trying to fall asleep in bed but he couldn't do it with voices reaching his ears. Intent on finding out what was going on, the little boy got out of bed and made his way to his door. Cracking it open a peek, he saw no one in the hall before he fully left his room and approached the foyer where voices seemed to be coming from.

"I'm worried about your son, Mister and Missus Marukura. He seems so taken with those Bakugan creatures. What does he see in them? They're giant creatures that could crush everything in an instant." His science instructor spoke up. Putting his ear to the foyer door, he heard everything.

Inside, Marucho's parents were sitting down with Marucho's instructors.

"Bakugan are like that, it's just natural for them to be large but I do agree with you on the child. I can tell just by looking at him that Bakugan are on his mind even when he's studying. If nothing is done about this soon, he'll become obsessed with them." The math instructor said.

Marucho's parents glanced at the instructor and then to each other. "What do you suggest we do about this?" Marucho's father asked the instructors.

Marucho's English instructor leaned forward seriously. "We have to suppress this before it gets out of hand. If he talks about them, tell him to stop focusing on them, put them out of mind, and focus on his studies. Have him play and don't allow him to read books about Bakugan. His interest will only continue if he continues to read about them." He explained to the parents and fellow instructors. "This goes for all of us. We all have to make sure he doesn't drive himself crazy over them."

At that point, Marucho heard enough and didn't want to hear anymore. Backing away, he quietly ran back to his room and hid under his bed covers. They couldn't stop him from studying Bakugan, could they? He really likes them after all.

After that night, the next day proved him wrong. When he brought up Bakugan, everyone told him to concentrate on his studies. Once the chance to stop studying and get back to reading came, he immediately went to the library only to find the books on Bakugan were removed. Then he spent all evening looking for them despite his parents' constant suggestions for him to play outside or with his toys. His search was fruitless as he couldn't find them anywhere he could get to in the house. They really had stuck to their conversation with each other that other night and tried to make him stop being curious about Bakugan.

Searching for the books that evening exhausted him and he went to bed quickly. Later on in the middle of the night before the break of dawn, Marucho woke up, unable to sleep anymore. Memories of the previous day returned to him as soon as he woke up completely. Those memories were not good for him, then he made a decision. If his parents and instructors weren't going to let him study Bakugan then he wasn't going to stay, he was going to go out and find a place to study Bakugan.

A look to his bedroom window gave him an idea. Opening the window, he climbed out onto the surrounding rooftop. Cautiously, he scooted around on the rooftop, looking for a way to get down until he slipped and lost his grip.

Too scared to scream, Marucho could only watch in fear as he slid down the roof and over the edge. Fortunately, a bush was down below to break his fall.

When he pulled himself out of the bush, he murmured, "That was close." Though shaken by the experience, he continued to the front of the residence and left the territory. As soon as both feet were out of his home's boundaries, he felt the need to run and that's what he did. It was as if he felt someone would know something was wrong the moment he stepped out of boundary and didn't want to stick around to find out whether someone knew or not. So Marucho ran in the direction the Bakugan from a few days ago came from, pacing himself as he did so but continued to run until he couldn't anymore.

After what seemed like and was several hours of running, Marucho came to a stop at a rock.

Unknown to him, he was being watched.

Catching his breath, he laid down on that rock. "Wow…" He whispered as he observed nature all around his position. In his short life, he had hardly ever left his house and when he did, it was always some place full of civilization and not pure nature. Sitting up, he got a better look. "Why couldn't Mother and Father bring me to a place like this?" The boy wondered out loud. Then two realizations came to him. His stomach growled while his throat felt dry. What was he going to eat? What was he going to drink? In his hurry to leave before his parents could make him stop wondering about Bakugan altogether, he forgot to plan this out. Technically, he planned the first part out but not the rest of it. "Now what do I do?"

"What's on your mind?"

A new voice surprised Marucho which caused him to fall off his seat. Looking around, Marucho attempted to find the source of the voice.

"Who was that?" He asked as he looked around.

"Over here, little guy." Following the sound of the voice, Marucho came up to the nearby river and what he caught him off guard.

"Ah!" The young boy backed away a little.

In the river appeared to be a black and blue head with red eyes. "Surprised?"

Marucho nodded. "A lot."

"Yeah, I have that effect on a lot of people." The head rose out of the river and the rest of its body revealed itself.

Immediately, Marucho recognized the body. "A Bakugan! You're a Bakugan!"

The Bakugan chuckled. "You sound like I'm some sort of discovery. Bakugan aren't uncommon, little guy." Judging by its voice, Marucho deduced it was a male.

"Well," Marucho started, "I haven't seen a lot of Bakugan where I live." Observing the Bakugan, all the information he learned resurfaced. "Your colors are blue and purple. That means you're an Aquos Bakugan."

"That's right. And I know for a fact that you're a human. I've seen your kind before." The Aquos Bakugan nodded at Marucho's observation. Then he waded out of the river, onto the ground next to Marucho, and sat down. "Since we seem to know a little about each other, let's know more. My name's Preyas, how about you?"

"My name is Marucho. Well, it's not actually my name but I saw the name in a book one time and I liked it so I want everyone to call me Marucho." Marucho introduced.

Preyas smiled. "Nice to meet you, Marucho. You're one of the nicer humans I've met in my time. Also, you're one of the smaller ones I've met too. I take it you're not a full grown human." He observed.

Shaking his head, Marucho gave him the answer. "Nope, I'm only five years old. My parents say I'm not an adult until I am eighteen years old."

"I see. So Marucho, if you're not fully grown then why are you out here by yourself? Last I checked, young ones like yourself aren't supposed to be out and alone." Preyas inquired of the human boy.

This made Marucho frown. "My parents and my teachers don't want me to learn about Bakugan anymore so I ran away." He looked up at Preyas. "Do you know what I can eat and drink? I ran away all night." His stomach growled even more to emphasize Marucho's point.

Preyas laughed. "Oh yeah, I know a little thing or two. I've seen humans eat. Hold on a second." Walking to a nearby tree, Preyas plucked off a ripe pear-like fruit off a branch. Setting it down before Marucho, he turned around. Scooping up a large leaf and some water from the river, he set it before Marucho as well. "Here, this should do it. Don't worry about the water, its fresh water. It's safe to drink."

"Thanks." With Preyas's help, Marucho was able to eat the pear-like fruit and drink his fresh river water.

"So when are you heading back home to your parents?" The Aquos Bakugan asked as soon as Marucho finished eating.

Huffing and crossing his arms, Marucho turned away from Preyas. "I'm not going home. They don't want me to learn about Bakugan and if they won't let me then I don't want to be there."

Looking at Marucho, Preyas asked, "Why don't your parents wanting you to learn about Bakugan anyway? We're not that bad, little guy."

"They don't want me learning about them because they think I'm not taking my learning seriously enough anymore. I'm thinking about my lessons, I am but I also want to think about Bakugan and everything that involves them. You and the other Bakugan are interesting. We don't see a lot of you around where I live so what's wrong with learning about them so when they do come around, we know everything?" The little boy explained. That's what he wanted to say to his parents after that discussion he heard but since it scared him so much and he wasn't supposed to be up at the time, he couldn't say a thing about it.

"Geez, and they want you to stop? That's wrong. I was curious about stuff when I was little like you and no one ever stopped me from getting answers so no one should be stopping you from being curious about us." Preyas commented.

"That's what I was thinking." Said Marucho in agreement.

They sat there, talking for a little while. Occasionally, a Bakugan would pass by and not even give them the time of day. They paid no attention to the fact that Marucho was telling Preyas what he knew about Bakugan and his observations of the passing creatures.

The large, blue creature looked at Marucho a little while later. "What now? I mean, if you're not going back, then what are you going to do? Where are you going to go?"

Marucho frowned. "That's what I didn't think of when I left. All I knew was that I didn't want them to stop me from learning about Bakugan and if going back there means not being able to then I don't want to go back."

In their short time together, Preyas felt that he didn't like seeing the young human unhappy. Only a few humans were Preyas's friends and he considered Marucho one of them. Unless Marucho had a plan then he wouldn't make it out here very well.

"Hey, you look like you need cheering up. Want to hear a joke I heard?" Preyas asked him.

In response, Marucho tilted his head, confused. "What's a joke?" He never heard of that before.

That response made Preyas go wide-eyed. "You don't know what a joke is? Geez, your parents have been neglecting to teach you some things. Okay, a joke is something to make you laugh and smile. I'm going to ask you a question and you won't know the answer to it then I tell you what the answer is. Understand?" The blue creature asked the blonde-haired boy. Marucho nodded in understanding. "Alright, why was six afraid of seven?" The boy thought for a moment before shrugging, indicating to Preyas that he didn't know. "Because seven ate nine." Preyas didn't think Marucho would get the joke but he was clearly wrong because as soon as he said the punch line, Marucho burst out laughing, holding his stomach. "You get it?"

"Yeah, ate sounds like eight. That's a good joke." Marucho answered.

"Thank you."

"No thank you Preyas. After I stopped here, I had no idea what to do but you helped me. Thank you for that."

"Any time, little guy." Preyas had to admit, he really liked this kid. For a small one and a young one at that, he understood more than he would appear to. "You know, alone, you're not going to do very well out here by yourself until you're old enough or experienced enough so what do you think about staying at my place for a while?" He suggested to the boy.

First, Marucho looked Preyas up and down. Secondly, he looked at the nature around him. Lastly, he looked in the direction of where he lived. Three glances in three different directions gave him enough to think about before he made up his mind. "That sounds nice. I'll go with you, Preyas."

The Aquos Bakugan smiled. "Great! Let's go then. My place is perfect. Your parents won't find you there. Where I live, you'll have plenty of ways to learn about Bakugan."

"Excellent, where are we going?"

"To the Aquos Attribute Realm, my home is there and quite a few humans and Bakugan live there too. You'll love it. Come on." Preyas got into the river and held out his claw for Marucho to step on to. Stepping onto Preyas's claw, Marucho climbed up his arm and onto his shoulder where he could hang onto Preyas.

Then they started their journey. Preyas started swimming to the flow of the large and deep river. This continued for a couple hours before they reached open water.

Marucho stared at the open water around them. "Where's the attribute realm? Is this it? It looks like an ocean."

This made Preyas chuckle. "That's because it is an ocean. Entrances to the attribute realms are hidden around the world. A lot of Bakugan know where they are and not many humans know where they are or how to get there. One of the entrances for the Aquos one is down in the ocean. How long can you hold your breath? I know humans can't breathe underwater like fish or Aquos Bakugan."

"Not very long. Why? Do I need to hold my breath for a while?" Marucho asked.

"Yeah, but I have an idea. Let's try this first. Aquos Bubble." Using his Aquos powers, Preyas generated a bubble of air and put it on Marucho's head. "How does it work? Is it working fine?" He asked.

Marucho nodded. "It's working. I can breathe."

Grinning, Preyas prepared to dive. "Perfect, now hold on tight." Doing as Preyas requested, Marucho was able to hang onto Preyas as the blue creature dove down into the water. Underneath the waves, fish and Aquos Bakugan roamed freely. This is what Marucho saw when they went under. In a little bit of time, they reached the bottom of the ocean and Preyas swam to some gigantic, bright coral. Once he saw an opening, he saw a flash of dark blue and purple. Entering the opening, Preyas and Marucho paddled into the light.

Then the next thing Marucho knew, the light was gone and they were once more swimming in an open sea of Bakugan and fish.

"Did we make it?"

"Yep, we're there, pal." With that, Preyas took Marucho up to the surface. As they approached, Marucho could see a mass of land and humans swimming up near the surface. They broke surface and Preyas popped Marucho's bubble. "Here we are. Aquos Attribute Realm."

All Marucho could do was stare at the land in front of him. He saw the top of the land was a mountain. From their range, he saw stone buildings, fountains, Bakugan and humans on the shore, so many wonders that he had never really seen before.

"This is the main land of the realm. There are several other large pieces of land and smaller islands all over." Preyas noted to his overwhelmed friend.

"Woah…" Marucho breathed in exhilaration.

Then Preyas began to swam towards shore. "This way, my place happens to be here on this land."

^Seven Years Later^

Aquos Bakugan and some fish swam around. Also swimming was a blonde haired boy. His face held red, round glasses on the bridge of his nose. This was Marucho, seven years later at the age of twelve. Deciding to get some air, Marucho rose to the attribute realm's ocean's surface. He felt he had enough swimming for the morning. Swimming back to shore, he got on land and ran to where he left his things. As he ran, air quickly dried off any remaining water. There, he ducked behind a bush and changed into his day clothes of a white and blue hoodie, blue shorts, and shoes. Picking up the rest of his stuff, he started running up a path familiar to him. On his way, he put on his backpack and pulled his favorite blue fingerless gloves onto his hands. When he reached the top of the path, he found a stone building surrounded by a shallow moat. Other children were heading the same way as he was from all different directions. Jumping onto the first large stepping stone in the shallow moat, he proceeded to jump onto the other ones.

There were several rooms in the building and Marucho went to the one he was assigned to. In the room, he found other kids already there. "Hey guys," He waved as he walked to them.

"Hey Marucho," "Hi Marucho," "Marucho, did you go for a morning swim again?"

"You guys want to hear a joke Preyas and I came up with last night?" He asked them.

"Yeah, tell us the new joke." "It better be a good one too." "They're always good ones, aren't they?"

Clearing his throat to get their attention, Marucho smiled, "What did the mermaid wear to math class?" They all looked at him expectantly. "Her algae-bra!" They all cracked down and laughed. Through this laughter, Marucho smiled. Preyas will be happy to know the joke was a success just like the rest of them.

His parents never did find him after all these years. Preyas was right when he said not a lot of humans could find the realm let alone get to it. For seven years, Marucho lived with Preyas and the blue Bakugan took him all over the realm. He now knew this land as well as he knew his house when he was five. In his seven years since meeting Preyas, Marucho did learn more about Bakugan than he knew from books. His old life didn't satisfy him as well as the one he lived now did. At times, he regretted leaving but at other times he realized that if he was going to get where he wanted to be in life then leaving had to be done. Leaving lead to him meeting Preyas, leaving lead to living in the Aquos Attribute Realm, leaving lead him to a new world.

_Sorry if Marucho seems a little too smart for a five year old but he's the smartest of the brawlers and since it seemed his parents wanted him to be focused on his education, he would learn this stuff very early on. Hope you liked it and please review if possible. Also, the part where twelve year old Marucho is swimming then hurrying to school is an allusion to Lilo & Stitch, my second favorite Disney movie. If you want, go onto Youtube and play me hele no lilo and play the song when you get to that part._


End file.
